Event Details

What is Pakathon?

Pakathon is a global movement with a mission to connect entrepreneurs, researchers and technologists from Pakistan to those around the world. Our goal is to create sustainable projects and companies that make an impact and shape the future of Pakistan.

Why should you attend?

Pakathon Chicago is organizing its inaugural weekend Hackathon, in collaboration with BLUE 1647. We will have individuals from diverse backgrounds coming together to take advantage of untapped opportunities and build digital solutions to frontline challenges in Pakistan.

Qualifying participants will win prizes of up to $10,000,exposure on a global scale and mentorship from renowned business leaders in both North America and Pakistan.

Who should attend?

People who are passionate about using technology and business to address problems in developing countries, whether it be developers, designers, business professionals or development workers. If you have a great idea, or a skill that can help bring an idea to life, Pakathon is the perfect way for you to spend your weekend.

Volunteers and Mentors are welcome! Please contact us for more information.

How to Register for the Hackathon ?

Sign up through Eventbrite in your appropriate category. Due to capacity restrictions, please register in the category that applies to you.

Terms & Conditions

By Purchasing a ticket to Pakathon Chicago you agree to the following terms and conditions:

I hereby grant Pakathon Chicago and Pakathon Global permission to use my likeness in a video, photo or other digital reproduction in any and all of its publications, including website, without payment or any other consideration.

Judges

Imran Ahmad is a venture capitalist and entrepreneur with a strong interest in early stage technology companies. He is the founder of MousehouseApp and is currently a Principal at OCA Ventures.

Dr. Khan Siddiqui is an entrepreneur, physician and an innovator, with a passion to make health, healthcare and wellness a game. He is a radiologist by training and is a member of the faculty at Johns Hopkins, in addition to being the co-founder and CEO of higi.

Saq Khan is an angel investor and entrepreneur interested in consumer/technology startups. He is an early investor in MousehouseApp and the founder of Pichanomy, an early stage startup marketplace for photographers and consumers. Saq is currently a Consulting Practice Director at Oracle.

Mentors

Navaid Abidi is a Chicago based serial entrepreneur, and has been involved in volunteer based development work in Pakistan for the past decade. He is currently the president of OPEN Chicago, and serves as VP of Research at the Next Capital Group. Navaid have been researching global social innovation and searching for ideas that can be brought to Pakistan for the past decade. He graduated from Chicago Booth School of Business, and helped organize the Chicago Microfinance conference in 2005-2006. Navaid also serves as a Mentor at the Haris School of Public Policy, where I mentor students on global development issues.

Adnan Tahir recently graduated from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor in Computer Science. He has experience with developing java applications, django and C++. Adnan is currently working on developing an iOS application for a startup. You can reach out to Adnan if you need help with server setup or application deployment.

Haroon Qureshi is an anterprise architect and entrepreneur, currently working for EMC developing solutions and architectures in the Big Data, Butt and Trust space. Prior to working at EMC, Haroon founded QSolve, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in performance and architectures, enabling clients to get the most from their investment in IT infrastructure.

Khalid Ghori works for Computer Science Corporation as Global Portfolio Manager for Application Consulting where we help enterprises embrace new technology to realize their business objectives. Before that, he worked for Microsoft for 7 years on various products including Office for iPad, Office fo Mac, and OneDrive. Khalid is an alumnus of the University of Texas at Austin where he majored in computer engineering. He loves spending time developing new ideas, attending online courses, and coaching people.

SCHEDULE: Day 1 of Event – Friday Night

Event starts with dinner at 6:30pm.

Each city chapter will have at least 3 and up to 6 tracks for their event. The three Global Tracks that all chapters will have are Education, Energy and Retail.

All participants will be allowed to participate with ideas outside these tracks.

7:00pm – City chapters will open with a quick introduction.

7:30 PM – Keynote speaker.

7:55 PM – Mentors introduce themselves for 2 minute.

After 60 minutes of brainstorming, team leads take the podium and pitch their ideas and have one last chance to recruit team members. All ideas should be registered by the end of the night.

SCHEDULE: Day 2 of Event – Saturday

Mentors will block out sessions to skype with participants from different cities.

10:00am – Breakfast will be served.

People will work on their projects throughout the day.

There will breakout sessions throughout the day with mentors or speakers.

1:00pm – Lunch will be served.

5:30pm – Dinner will be served.

Each team will have to pick the main city where they will be pitching from.

SCHEDULE: Day 3 of Event – Sunday

10:00am – Each of the cities will have judging and will nominate the best team from their city. This team will then send a video or skype in, for the final round of global winners to be announced from Boston

Each team will post their blog to the Pakathon facebook page before they can pitch to judges.

6:00pm – Results are announced.

Contestants may mingle at the end.

Food and refreshments will be provided for all meals during the weekend!

FAQs

What is a Hackathon ?

A Hackathon is an event where people come together for an intense and fun weekend of collaborative problem solving and rapid prototyping of ideas

Are there ID requirements or an age limit to enter the event?

Students may be asked to provide an ID card if their school e-mail address is not used to register.

What are my transport/parking options getting to the event?

Take the subway to St. Andrews station and walk a couple of blocks west on King street.

What type of support is provided during Pakathon?

A key part of Pakathon’s support is the valuable advice and assistance provided by the event’s Mentors to the teams. Mentors consist of experts in various fields ranging from software development, entrepreneurship, industry expertise, and local knowledge of Pakistan who dedicate their time to providing feedback and guidance and working with teams. In addition, a public speaking coach will be provided on Sunday morning to assist with final pitch rehearsal.